In an access network, a solution to compensate for failures is important. One solution may provide a redundancy scheme where a spare transmitter takes over when a failure occurs to an active component (e.g., another transmitter or another structure with a transmitter) in the access network. One issue with using a spare is a dedicated spare module (e.g., a card) is included in the chassis including the other transmitters for the access network. This spare card is not active until there is a failure. That is, the spare is not transmitting to any medium (e.g., a service group/subscribers). Thus, there is a cost to support the sparing scheme that includes the cost of the spare module and also a switching matrix to connect the spare to take the place of the failed transmitter.